Rudolph Reindeer On TV Every December 25th

Robert L. May invented the mythical reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Rudolph, who is typically pictured as the youngest and ninth reindeer belonging to Santa Claus, uses his brilliant red nose to steer Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve. Even though many made fun of his fawn nose at first, it is so dazzling that it illuminates the team’s route through severe winter storms.

According to Ronald D. Lankford Jr., Rudolph’s tale is “the fantasy story made to order for American children: each child has the need to express and receive approval for his or her individuality and/or special qualities. Rudolph’s story embodies the American Dream for the child, written large because of the cultural significance of Christmas.”

The first time Rudolph was shown was in a pamphlet written by May and released by the department store Montgomery Ward in 1939.

The Rudolph Company, LP owns the rights to the story, which has been adapted into a variety of media, including the Johnny Marks song, the Rankin/Bass Productions films Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys, as well as the Rankin/Bass productions films Rudolph the Shiny New Year and Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July.

The license for the Rudolph Company, LP and DreamWorks Classics is overseen by Character Arts, LLC. Rudolph has evolved into a legendary Christmas character in many nations. The character’s 75th birthday and the Rankin/Bass television special’s 50th anniversary were both celebrated in 2014. The United States Postal Service released a series of postage stamps with Rudolph on November 6, 2014.

History.

Rudolph was a project Robert L. May designed in 1939 for Chicago-based Montgomery Ward. Every year for Christmas, the merchant would purchase and distribute coloring books, therefore it was thought that it would be more cost-effective to publish their own book. Before deciding on the name “Rudolph,” May thought of calling the reindeer “Rollo” or “Reginald.”

May claimed that his daughter liked reindeer and that he had grown up being treated like Rudolph. Montgomery Ward distributed 2.4 million copies of Rudolph’s story in its first year of publication. Anapestic tetrameter, the same meter used in “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (often referred to as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”), is used to write the story as a poem.

Pearson PLC is in charge of the publication and reprint rights for the book Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Looking out his office window in downtown Chicago as he considered how to best write a Christmas narrative about a reindeer, May suddenly had an idea. The fog from Lake Michigan had obscured his view, he remembered. “A nose! A bright red nose that would shine through fog like a spotlight.”

Since the story’s publication, a red nose’s cultural connotation has evolved. The tale idea was initially rejected because a brilliant red nose was strongly linked to chronic drunkenness and drunkards in popular culture of the 1930s. Denver Gillen, a friend of May’s at Montgomery Ward who is an illustrator, was commissioned to create “cute reindeer” using zoo deer as models. Gillen’s lively, aware persona persuaded management to support the proposal.

The first mass-market edition of Rudolph and its sequel, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Shines Again, were both published by Maxton Books in 1947 and 1954, respectively. Robert May wrote a 1947 sequel that was never published. Rudolph’s Second Christmas was published in 1992 by Applewood Books.

Penguin Books reprinted the first Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 2003, adding fresh illustrations by Lisa Papp. Additionally, Penguin published the follow-up books Rudolph Shines Again and Rudolph’s Second Christmas (now retitled Rudolph to the Rescue) in May.

About Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV Special).

A 1964 Christmas stop-motion animated television special called Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created by Videocraft International, Ltd. (later known as Rankin/Bass Productions) and is now released by NBCUniversal Television Distribution (later known as NBCUniversal Syndication Studios). The General Electric Fantasy Hour served as its umbrella title, and it debuted on the NBC television network in the United States on December 6, 1964.

The program was based on the Johnny Marks song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” which in turn was based on Robert L. May’s 1939 poem of the same name. The special has been broadcast on CBS since 1972; in 2005, the network debuted a high-definition, digitally remastered version of the show that had been frame-by-frame rescanned from the original 35 mm film sources.

Rudolph no longer airs only once a year but numerous times over the Christmas and holiday seasons, just like A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The longest-running Christmas TV special in the USA, it has been broadcast each year since 1964.

The United States Postal Service released a series of postage stamps with Rudolph on November 6, 2014, to commemorate the television special’s 50th anniversary. The Masterworks Museum in Bermuda, which houses the original puppets, also set up a unique exhibit.

The Plot Of The TV Special.

Donner, the chief reindeer for Santa, and his wife have a young fawn, Rudolph. When they learn that he was born with a bright red nose, they are shocked. To make Rudolph blend in with the other reindeer, Donner first attempts to mud-cover Rudolph’s nose and then employs a prosthetic nose. The new fawns learn to fly at the reindeer games the next spring, where Rudolph participates, and Santa scouts them for future sleigh duty.

When Clarice, a doe, tells Rudolph he’s cute, Rudolph starts to fly. Rudolph’s artificial nose pops off as he joins the other bucks in their celebration, making the other reindeer make fun of him and Coach Comet deport him.

Yukon Cornelius, a prospector who has dedicated his life to looking for silver and gold, and Hermey, a misfit elf who left Santa’s workshop because he wants to be a dentist, are two people Rudolph encounters and joins. All three of them arrive on the Island of Misfit Toys after escaping the Abominable Snow Monster.

It is an island populated by unwanted or unloved toys, and King Moonracer, a winged lion, is its monarch. King Moonracer takes the toys to the island until he can find loving homes and children for them. The king permits them to stay on the island for one night and orders them to beg Santa to locate their homes. Rudolph sets out on his own because he fears his big nose will put his pals in danger.

After some time has passed, Rudolph, who is now a young stag, returns home to discover that Clarice and his parents have been looking for him. He then makes his way to the cave where they are being kept hostage by the Abominable. Up until the monster knocks Rudolph down with a stalactite, he tries to save Clarice.

Eventually, Hermey and Yukon appear with a strategy to aid Rudolph. After Yukon knocks the Abominable out, Hermey imitates a pig’s cry to entice it out of the cave and removes its teeth. Yukon pushes the toothless beast back over a ledge and tumbles down with it.

Everyone apologizes to Rudolph, Hermey, Clarice, and the Donner family as they return home. Returning with a tamed Abominable who has been taught to decorate Christmas trees, Yukon explains how the monster’s ability to bounce saved both of their lives.

On Christmas Eve, as everyone is enjoying themselves, Santa declares that Christmas must be canceled due to an impending snowstorm. He changes his mind and asks Rudolph to steer the sleigh after becoming blinded by Rudolph’s brilliant nose. Rudolph agrees, and they make their way to the Island of Misfit Toys where Santa leaves the toys for the kids as their first destination.

Various Versions.

Original 1964 NBC Broadcast Edit.

The NBC “live color” peacock can be seen at the beginning of this rendition. The original end credits are included, in which an elf throws down a list of all the technical credits.

The closing NBC network bumpers include advertisements for the upcoming episodes of Meet the Press and GE College Bowl, which were likely preempted that Sunday for the first 5:30 p.m. (EST) telecast. Other commercials for GE small appliances feature some of the same animated elves from the main program introducing each of the products.

GE was a sponsor of the College Bowl quiz show as well. Although Yukon Cornelius finds a peppermint mine nearby Santa’s workshop in the final scene of the show, the original does not feature Santa visiting the Island of Misfit Toys.

Throughout the special, he can be seen throwing his pickax into the air, sniffing it, and then licking the end that makes contact with the snow or ice. The viewer is left to think that Cornelius was trying to identify either silver or gold by taste alone because the peppermint portion was cut in 1965 to make place for Santa visiting the Island of Misfit Toys.

1965–1997 Telecasts.

The 1965 broadcast also featured a new Rudolph and Hermey duet called “Fame and Fortune,” which took the place of the same characters singing “We’re a Couple of Misfits” in a previous scene. The 1964 television special’s viewers protested because Santa was not depicted keeping his promise to the Misfit Toys (to include them in his annual toy delivery).

In reaction, a new scene with Santa making his first trip at the Island to collect the toys was created for further rebroadcasts. Since then, this is the epilogue that has appeared on all television broadcasts and media releases. The special didn’t have any additional cuts until sometime in the 1970s, but eventually the network needed more commercial time.

The instrumental bridge from “We Are Santa’s Elves,” including the elf orchestra, more conversation by Burl Ives, and the “Peppermint Mine” interlude settling the fate of Yukon Cornelius were all cut in 1978 to make place for more advertising. “Misfits” was restored to the special’s original film setting in 1993, and “Fame and Fortune” is shown on the 2004 DVD release as a distinct musical piece.

1998–2004 CBS Telecasts.

1998 saw the restoration of the most of the 1965 omissions, while “Fame and Fortune” was swapped out for the original “We’re a Couple of Misfits” encore. At the start of the special, a brief slide with the words “Rankin/Bass Presents” was added to reflect the company’s name change.

2005–Present Telecasts.

Beginning in 2005, CBS reintroduced the “Fame and Fortune” sequence, but with a hastily edited version of “We’re a Couple of Misfits” as the soundtrack. Additionally, the special has been condensed to allow for more commercial advertising.

2019–Present Freeform Broadcast Edit.

In May 2019, it was revealed that Freeform would broadcast the special featuring Frosty the Snowman for the first time as part of their yearly 25 Days of Christmas lineup. Later it was discovered that the agreement was not an exclusive rights agreement because CBS had a separate broadcast rights agreement with Classic Media/Universal that allowed them to air the program twice.

The “Peppermint Mine” scene and the original version of “We’re a Couple of Misfits” can both be seen on Freeform for the first time since the original broadcast, while CBS continues to air the version they have had since 2005. In contrast, much of the material removed or changed from CBS’s broadcasts is reinstated.

Due to Universal Pictures’ 2016 acquisition of Classic Media’s owner, DreamWorks Animation, the special print on Freeform additionally features the 2012 Universal Pictures logo before the special.

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